I’m angry and I want justice for the victims

Every article I have written before is redrafted, edited and proofed five-six times before it goes to print. The perfectionist in me demands that. But I am so moved by this video that I have neither the strength nor the desire for fussing over typos. What I really want is justice; justice for the woman in Budiriro who was kicked and hit with a brick by the slob of a man over $6 in November 2016 – real justice, not the fifty dollar slap on the wrist meted out to the perpetrator – I want justice for the woman who was stripped to her underwear by the hoodlums at Copacabana taxi rank, and I want posthumous justice for the late Ethel Gcinashe who was killed by her husband. I want justice for my late friend Muna, whose screams did not deter a cowardly man from hitting her and I want justice for Mai Joel, my neighbour, the first woman I saw being slapped by her husband when I was 6 years old. I want justice for every woman who has ever been a victim of physical and sexual abuse. And according to the latest demographics survey, that is 47% of Zimbabwean women.

In this latest video (above), which is only for the brave to watch, a young woman is punched and kicked by the sort of man I would have punched senseless, if he had ever braved the paddocks on which I herded cattle. In fact, the culprit, a boy in his late teens, is from Mabelreign, where I grew up.He would have screamed mummy, if I had met him in the sand pit of my childhood.

What have the police done?

The evidence is irrefutable. Where are the police, who do nothing but chase motorists at roadblocks – fundraising points – that outnumber traffic lights on Zimbabwe’s roads? Where is the uncle of this “Reese”character when his nephew is busy kicking women? Reese is defending his mother who, apparently, was insulted by the girl he beat up. If his mother sees this video, is she proud of her son the spineless little man who hits women?

To say that I am boiling is an understatement. I am livid. And I want justice